TM: Cherokee Museum (Students)

Transylvania County: good morning Celeste and Mt. Mourne Transylvania County: Celeste and Mt. Mourne, are you Iredell County folks? Transylvania County: I can see your video, both of you. Are you able to chat? Transylvania County: Hi, Mt. Mourne. Wave if you are getting this message. Transylvania County: Welcome ISS-CoolSpring-Lab! I assume this is S. Eller?
	Transylvania County: Cool Spring, I see you! But no video this time... Transylvania County: I see you TES-Graham. Transylvania County: hi Mount Pleasant . Transylvania County: Welcome William. William Williams: Good Morning. Mt. Pleasant Elemen: We have two fifth grade classes here today.
Transylvania County: Welcome to all of you who have joined our Town Meeting today! I am Carrie Kirby in Transylvania County. Mt. Pleasant Elemen: Hi, Mrs. Kirby! William Williams: I am located in Johnston County. Transylvania County: While we are waiting, if you can chat please introduce yourselves... William Williams: Lead Technology Teacher Johnston County Schools. Mt. Pleasant Elemen: We are 5th graders- some from Mrs. Christy's class- some from Miss Rapier's class. Transylvania County: I know we have some schools from Iredell-Statesville who can see our chat but cannot talk back! Welcome... Transylvania County: I see Celeste Henkel, Mt. Mourne, ISS-CoolSpring, Mt. Pleasant, TES-Graham and William Williams Transylvania County: Welcome to all of you.
	Transylvania County: Have any of you visited the Cherokee Reservation? Mt. Pleasant Elemen: We have 10 who have visited Cherokee. Transylvania County: That's great! Transylvania County: Any one else? Transylvania County: I understand from David that the new museum is quite impressive and if you had a chance to read the promo on the Teachers Connect site, you can get an idea of what is there. Transylvania County: Mt. Mourne reports that they have had 18 students visit Cherokee Transylvania County: In regard to the Cherokee, I know one of the questions to consider was about Sequoyah. Transylvania County: What do your students know about this Cherokee hero? Mt. Pleasant Elemen: He was the one who invented the alphabet. Transylvania County: That is certainly correct. Was he a story teller? Mt. Pleasant Elemen: Yes, we think so.
Transylvania County: From my experience as a media specialist and resource person, I guess I would say the Indians were some of the greatest story tellers. Transylvania County: While we are waiting to see if our expert has worked out the problems and speaking of stories... David Kafitz: Hello everyone, I'm talking with Barbara on the phone. Ask your questions to me and I will send her responses. Transylvania County: Okay David -- Welcome.
	Transylvania County: How do they work with the bark to make baskets? Barbara Duncan: The baskets are made out of white oak wood or river cane split into thin strips or honeysuckle vines. Mt. Pleasant Elemen: What was life like on the reservation? Barbara Duncan: Mt. Pleasant, could you be more specific when you are talking about? Barbara Duncan: Present day or before the European settlers? Mt. Pleasant Elemen: Both present day & long ago. Mt. Pleasant Elemen: Do Indians who live on the reservation today have microwaves or computers? Barbara Duncan: Long ago, Cherokee men hunted and fished. Cherokee women grew corn and beans and large gardens of vegetables. The village was democratic - everyone was included in making decisions. Barbara Duncan: Present day life, people live in modern houses and drive cars. They go to movies and shop at Wal-Mart, but there are still things that make them distinctly Cherokee such as the Cherokee language, traditional arts and crafts such wood carvings, basket making, and pottery, traditional medicines and religions, and a way of looking at the world and treating their neighbors. Barbara Duncan: The Cherokee nation included land in 8 states, about 140,000 square miles of land with about 30,000 people.
Mt. Mourne: What is the housing like and where is it located ? How do they make canoes ? Barbara Duncan: Canoes are made from Tulip poplar trees. They are hollowed out. They are hollowed out by making a small fire and burning out part of the wood. Then tools are used to remove the charcoal. The fires are controlled by plastering mud around them. Mt. Pleasant Elemen: How long did it take to make a canoe? Barbara Duncan: It took about 1 month to make a canoe.
	Mt. Pleasant Elemen: Did any women do any hunting or fishing? Barbara Duncan: Yes, women could hunt and fish if they wanted too. Women were also warriors. Cherokee men's power believed balanced women's power and both were important. Barbara Duncan: The Cherokee people are the only native American people to have invented their own written language. Barbara Duncan: In1821, Sequoyah invented a syllabary with 85 symbols representing all the sounds of the Cherokee language. He worked on this for 12 years. When the Cherokee council approved his work. Within a year, everyone in the Cherokee nation could read and write their own language. Barbara Duncan: The Cherokee began publishing their own newspaper in Cherokee and English called the Cherokee Phoenix. TIES Grant: Transylvania Count: Can you name the eight states that were included in the Nation? Barbara Duncan: The eight states in the nation were North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Mt. Mourne - ISS: Do they still make weapons to use for hunting? Mt. Mourne -- ISS: How old is their tribe? Barbara Duncan: The Cherokee were not nomadic like tribes on the western plains. They never lived in tepees. They build houses of wood plastered with mud, roofed with bark. They lived along the rivers in settled villages for the past 2,000 YEARS. Barbara Duncan: They Cherokee people believe they have always been in the Appalachian Mountains. Archaeologists have found evidence of people living in the mountains up to 14,000 years ago. Barbara Duncan: In 1838, the US Army rounded up the Cherokee nation and forcibly moved them to Oklahoma. This was called the Trail of Tears. Barbara Duncan: AT that time, the Cherokee lived in log houses like their white neighbors. They were Christians. They had schools. They had their own written constitution. But white settlers wanted their land, particularly in Georgia where gold was discovered. Nearly half of the Cherokee nation died on the trail of tears. Iredell-Statesville -- D. Hicks class: Were the children required to help their mothers? Barbara Duncan: Children imitated what adults did. They were allowed lots of freedom until they grew up. Then they were expected to become responsible for what adults did. Children were treasured and never physically punished. Mt. Pleasant Elemen: How many people make up the Cherokee Nation today? Barbara Duncan: The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians have 11,000 members but if counted with the Oklahoma Cherokees, the are the second largest tribe in the nation.
	TIES Grant: Did the Cherokee have certain colors to represent each Nation? Barbara Duncan: The Cherokee believed colors represented different directions and qualities. They are: Red - associated with east and success. White - associated with the south and peace and happiness. Black - associated with the west and death Blue - associated with the north and represented thoughtfulness. Yellow - associated with sickness and disease.
Barbara Duncan: During the Civil War, the Cherokees fought for the Confederacy and the state of North Carolina in the Thomas Legion. They guarded the mountain passes into Tennessee. Barbara Duncan: Cherokee men have also served with great distinction in World War I, World War II, the Korean conflict, and the Vietnam war. D.Hicks class : How large was the average tribe? Barbara Duncan: Before 1500, villages were made up of 12 to 60 families. Mt. Mourne: Who has the biggest tribe ? Barbara Duncan: The Cherokee always kept their villages small enough so that the entire village could fit into their town house where they gathered to make decisions. The size of villages varied over time. One important village was Echota near present day Vonore, TN. An important village on the Little Tennessee River was Cowee. This is near present day Franklin, NC. Transylvania County: How large was that town house? Barbara Duncan: The town house at Cowee held 500 people. You can read about this town house in William Bartram's book titled Travels. Bartram was an early American explorer and botanist. He visited Cowee in 1775. Transylvania County: That's a big Town House! Barbara Duncan: For more information on villages, you can visit our web site at http://www.cherokeemuseum.org
	D.Hicks class: What was the typical clothing worn by the Cherokees? Barbara Duncan: Before 1500, the men wore breech clothes and leggings made of deer hides. Women wore skirts woven from mulberry bark. Moccasins were made from groundhog or elk hide. The Cherokee made beautiful feather capes from wild turkey and egret feathers. They never wore feathered headdresses like the Plains Indians. TIES Grant: What was the typical meal like? Barbara Duncan: Soups, stews, and dumplings cooked over an open fire. Barbara Duncan: They ate deer, bear, and wild turkey. A very important part of their diet was corn. They grew three types of corn. They gathered chestnuts and hickory nuts from the woods along with blackberries, strawberries, and other fruit. They baked bread in baskets and made teas from herbs. TIES Grant: Did they eat fry bread? Barbara Duncan: Fry bread is a recent creation based on government commodities of flour, butter and dried milk. Almost every Indian tribe around the country now eats fry bread and it is often sold at Pow Wows. Barbara Duncan: Any more questions?
Transylvania County: Thanks for attending -- it is about that time -- 11 a.m. -- do any of you have further questions of our guest Barbara Duncan: The museum is open everyday other Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. Barbara Duncan: Our new exhibit uses technology and special effects to tell the story of the Cherokee people. Barbara Duncan: Our outreach staff can speak to visiting groups and offer courses for teachers in the summer. TIES Grant: We have really enjoyed this meeting and think it is COOL... We are teachers from Frank Porter Graham, Mary Potter, and Joe Toler-Oak Hill Elementary. Barbara Duncan: Any further questions, you can contact the museum through their web site. Transylvania County: Thanks to all of you for attending this session today. Join us in 2000 for more Town Meetings! Contact us via Teachers Connect!